VITALIA Senior Residences® at Stow Showing Their Colors During Pride Month

In celebration of Pride Month this June, Arrow Senior Living is looking at The Pride Flag, a symbol that is a representation of the forward movements to support and celebrate those in the LGBTQIA+ community. This important piece of the community has a meaning that is described by the colors included.

Red represents life and passion among many cultures. Orange represents healing and is a fun and celebratory color. Yellow is a symbol for sunlight and is said to stimulate new ideas and thoughts. Green is synonymous with nature, a healing place, also associated with prosperity and growth. Blue represents serenity and the ability to feel calm. Purple is the color of spirit, thought to connect us to the spiritual realm.

At VITALIA Senior Residences® at Stow Stow, OH, we feel most connected to green. Our residents and staff love the outdoors, so the color that represents nature felt the most appropriate for us. As we are entering the spring season and more nature is coming to life, we are loving the fresh air and the feeling that spring brings.

As Resident Services Director, I always want to make sure the residents feel a childlike sense of wonder. No idea or action is too silly! I’d rather be goofy and silly to see a resident smile than to be reserved and boring. Crafts, jokes, and show and tell sessions bring us back to our younger years and have caused many laughs and memories that I always cherish.

In our community, we know that each of our residents have come from different lifestyles and backgrounds. As such, we work to maintain that diverse culture across both residents and staff with targeted programming and staff education efforts. Arrow Senior Living has launched a resident-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) speaker series for employee and resident education. Residents interview speakers who represent some of the relevant topics of the day related to diversity, equity, and inclusion ranging from non-binary people and use of pronouns to Juneteenth history. Through our tradition’s council, which coordinates core resident and employee cultural celebrations and education, we work actively to celebrate diversity within our community. This has created a means for residents and employees to join in recognition of each other. The road ahead is to ensure that diversity and inclusion is not just an initiative. Moving forward requires necessary conversations to address discomfort and to open dialogue on important perspectives. This helps to ensure that we are providing not only an enjoyable place to retire, but one where seniors can feel enriched, safe, and excited about life!